Reuniting with his band Crazy Horse for their first album together in some nine years, Neil Young puts his own wild stamp on the notion of Americana with a set of classic folk tunes, including versions of "Tom Dooley" and ...

Even though he also cut a slew of country ballads and honky tonk tunes, Horton's fame rests with these folk saga songs. After spending the majority of the '50s reworking the classic sound of Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell, and Webb ...

After spending much of 2011 touring with his Staind, Aaron Lewis returned to the studio to create a full-length follow-up to his country EP Town Line. Like that 2011 EP, The Road is a modern country album celebrating Lewis' redneck ...

Changed, Rascal Flatts' seventh studio album, and the first with the Big Machine Label Group, was recorded in bassist Jay DeMarcus' studio, and includes tracks produced by the band and the group's longtime producer Dann Huff. Recording information: Blackbird Studios, Nashville, ...

Returning to the Columbia/Sony family after nearly two decades away, Willie Nelson once again tries to be everything to everybody on 2012's Heroes, an appealingly misshapen collection of classics, contemporaries, and originals. Heroes -- its title signifying no great concept ...

The studio follow-up to The Foundation, You Get What You Give features songs that the band honed on tour, and the result is a nice mixture of loose jams built around thoughtfully worked-out arrangements. Recording information: 800 East Studios, Atlanta, GA; ...

After selling 40 million records, and 32 number one singles with Curb, Tim McGraw releases his Big Machine debut, Two Lanes of Freedom. The album's first single is "Truck Yeah." The title cut has a Celtic tinge, while closer ""Highway ...

Iris DeMent isn't a pop star, although she probably could have been had she been at all interested in playing that game. She's a careful, detailed songwriter with a confessional edge and a good sense of narrative, and her voice ...

16 TRACKS ECO-DIGIPAK Audio Mixers: Howard Willing; Julian Raymond. Liner Note Author: Robert K. Oermann.

Photographers: Kristin Barlowe; Russ Harrington; Jim Shea; Señor McGuire. Loaded: The Best of Blake Shelton, is a solid collection of the country singer's singles, hits, and favorites from his five studio full-lengths, and the two six-track EPs he released in the ...

A concise and well-selected overview, Marty Robbins's ALL-TIME GREATEST HITS packs 20 songs by this eclectic singer onto one disc. Though categorized as a country artist, Robbins defied pigeonholing with his forays into styles as diverse as gospel, mariachi music, ...

After parting ways with her longtime label, Rounder Records, Rhonda Vincent released Taken in 2010, and followed it with 2011's Your Money and My Good Looks, a duets album with Gene Watson. This time out, Sunday Mornin' Singin': Live! is ...

The 20 All-Time Greatest Hits collection contains several of Red Sovine's biggest hits, including "Teddy Bear," "Giddy-Up-Go," "Phantom 309," and "Little Joe." The majority of classics are here, making this a good introduction to the trailblazing vocalist who combined honky ...

One of the most comprehensive Conway Twitty collections on the market, 2006's two-disc GOLD spans the country star's entire career, from his late-1950s rock-&-roll days to his final recordings in the early '90s. This impressive 40-track set acknowledges Twitty's short-lived ...

It's no coincidence that maverick country star Dwight Yoakam rose to prominence in Los Angeles during the 1980s, playing clubs with the likes of Los Lobos, X, and the Blasters. Yoakam's roots revivalism, which borrows equally from the Bakersfield honky-tonk ...

Over the course of these 20 tracks, listeners get to encounter the rare and focused genius that was Gary Stewart. Covering his career from the late '60s through the 1970s while he was with RCA, these songs testify to a ...

Life on a Rock follows its 2012 predecessor Welcome to the Fishbowl quickly -- very quickly, appearing a mere ten months later. Why did Chesney rush out this record? It could be a tacit acknowledgment that Chesney wasn't entirely engaged ...

Miranda Lambert struck gold with her third album, Revolution, which sent two songs to the top of the country charts. Four the Record looks to continue her winning streak, mixing sassy country-pop with a handful of rustic, bluegrass-influenced songs. Despite ...

Unknown Contributor Roles: Nelson Larkin; Ron Reynolds. Personnel: Kelly Back (guitar); Bobby All (acoustic guitar); Buddy Emmons (steel guitar); Hoot Hester, Audrey Haney (fiddle); Dirk Johnson (piano, keyboards); David Smith (bass guitar); Jerry Kroon (drums). Liner Note Author: Chuck Young.

Gene Watson and Rhonda Vincent display considerable chemistry on their duet album, Your Money and My Good Looks. Watson boasts a light ingratiating country tenor, while Vincent is a more strident alto, which tends to reverse the expected sound in ...

Lady Antebellum have previously released a holiday EP, but 2012 brings On This Winter's Night, a full-length Christmas album recorded with deliberation and care by the country-pop trio. Working once again with their longtime producer Paul Worley, Lady Antebellum have ...

Want to hear part of the reason why Johnny Cash is an icon, a singer respected and influential in country, folk, and rock & roll? THIS is it! In 1968--one of the most tumultuous years in American history since the ...

WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD was originally released as a two-CD set of spirituals and inspirational pop songs in 1999. The 2008 edition cuts the selection from 26 to 14 songs, eliminating most of the classic gospel hymns and focusing primarily ...

Hip-O's sprawling 44-track Gold compilation may be more Engelbert Humperdinck than most folks can handle, but it's as definitive a collection as one could hope for. The legendary crooner was blessed with one of the smoothest sets of pipes to ...

Favorite Country Hits is a condensed, 18-track single disc of Floyd Cramer's mid-'90s double-disc set, which was only sold through television. On the album, Cramer runs through a number of country classics, including his trademark "Last Date." Though Cramer's talent ...